Leo Valdez and the Daughter of Nyx
by Ijustwantedacoolusername
Summary: Nox has always felt different-been different-but when a trip to the Yancy Academy goes awry and she gets carted to Camp Half-Blood, she finally feels at home...until she has to go on a quest with Head Repair Boy, Leo Valdez.
1. Chapter 1

"But mom! Why do I have to go to New York for school? Have we really been through all of the schools in California?" she spared a glance at my pleading form, already clad in the boring plaid skirt and button down shirt uniform of Yancy Academy.

"It doesn't matter if we haven't, I can't have you in this house anymore. You got into Yancy on scholarship because they enjoy having someone with as much natural talent as you have. Thank god they don't know about your...past." I sighed, knowing she was right. Ten schools, ten expulsions, and I was only sixteen! I grabbed my bags after this last ditch effort and headed to the cab outside. I threw myself in and told him my destination. I wasn't all that mad about leaving sunny California. It was always summer, which meant there was never any darkness. I wondered why my mom hadn't sent me to a night school yet, that was when I was at my best. If I could sleep all day and be awake all night, I would be happy.

I fell asleep on the plane, after staying awake all of last night, the sleep-deprivation had finally caught up to me. I woke up and we were already in New York, because it was a one-stop trip. It was night again, and I smiled. I hailed a cab and got in. Well, that was way easier then expected. That is, until I saw the driver.

I should probably tell you a bit of my past. Weird things always seemed to happen to me. When I was in fifth grade, one of the teachers made me go to detention for no reason, and when I got there, the teacher was there, and she was writing on the chalkboard in blood and licking her reptilian lips. I screamed and ran out, and she got me expelled. And once, when I was in first grade, we took a trip to the aviary and I accidentally let out all of the carnivorous owls out. So weird things were a common happening. But I'd never seen a seal driving a taxi-cab before.

Okay, so it wasn't really a seal. I wasn't entirely sure what it was, but It was really creepy. It was either a seal, dolphin, or both. I tried to get out of the cab, but the thing just smiled at me and locked the door. I remembered something from my old greek mythology book. It was my favorite book, but I remembered an old picture of a monster. _Telekhines_ was the name I remembered. But there was no way that these things actually exsisted. "Where do you want to go, demigod?" it hissed. I stopped. What did it just call me? And we were moving, and I hadn't even told him where I had wanted to go. I tried rolling down the window, wondering if I could just jump out, but he locked it too. "Dammit." I whispered and the thing just smiled at me.

"I cant wait until I taste your flesh. I haven't had a child of darkness in a while." it cackled, starting to move towards me. I grabbed the sharpest thing I could out of my backpack I could find-a pencil-and shoved it into his head. It hissed and burst into dust. I screamed and just stayed there for a while until I noticed I was still moving. Downhill. "Shit." I grabbed the stick and put it into brake. It squealed and I winced. I opened the door, still trying to wipe off the dust, which seemed to be gathering together into a shape. My eyes widened and I grabbed my backpack out of the cab and ran as fast as I could. About five blocks away, I stopped, panting and covered in monster dust, still in my school uniform. You could imagine the looks I would've been getting in California, but in New York? Not a single glance. And that included when the flying horses landed right in front of me.

"Hello." I said to the girl on the pegasus directly in front of me.

"Hi. My name is Annabeth Chase, child of Athena." that one stopped me. I had met children of multiple movie stars, but of a greek goddess? Nope, can't say I have.

"My name is Melanie Nox Varve, daughter of...Carlos Varve and unknown? But...you can call me Nox." I stuttered through a similar greeting, still dumbfounded by her mother. Maybe her mom's name just happened to coincide with the greek goddess of wisdom...still didn't explain the flying horses though. She nodded, silently saying she had heard me. "Now that we know each other, mind telling me why you're here? And why you're on flying horses?"

"Pegasus is the correct term, actually. But the reason we're here is because we need to get you to Camp Half-Blood."

"What's that?" I asked, probably sounding like a complete and utter idiot. She didn't seem to mind though.

"Its a summer camp for demigods. You're sixteen, which is way too late for most demigods, but that seems to be happening often lately..." I had stopped paying attention to her around the time she said "demigods". I mean, come on, really? I was supposed to believe I could be put in the same category as Hercules and Perseus? Uh-uh, no way. But...I totally wanted to see what it was like riding on a Pegasus.

"Sure? Why not? I mean, I already killed a seal today, so not the weirdest thing. Lets go ride on flying horses." I jumped on the black one, and she flinched. I almost asked why, but she shot me a look, so I stayed silent.

It was kind of like riding a regular horse, except for the fact that I had to dodge the wings so they didn't knock me off the back. We landed on Long Island, next to a huge tree with a sheep's fleece on it. A golden fleece. "Shit." I muttered, and I was about to scream it when I saw the dragon around the base of the tree. I covered my mouth and finally asked the question I had been thinking for around two minutes. "Can...can I pet it?" Annabeth looked at me like I was mad, but she warily nodded her head. I made my way up to the bronze-colored dragon and found its head. I gently put my hand in front of its nose, and it sniffed me. It then nuzzled his nose into my hand, and I started petting it. "Good dragon. You're doing a great job protecting the golden fleece, boy. Keep it up." the dragon purred and nodded a bit, but it whined when I pulled my hand away. "I'll come see you later, promise." and followed Annabeth down the hill. There were other campers everywhere, wearing orange t-shirts and jeans. "Oh, no. I do not wear orange. Or yellow. My mom was really pale, so I'm only half-Mexican. Seriously, do not try to try to put me in orange. Washes me out." I sounded totally shallow, but I didn't wear orange. I didn't even like the color orange. Except in fire. Fire was amazing, not because it chased away the dark, but because it accepted it. But, I digress. She looked at me condescendingly and said,

"You must be a child of Aphrodite."

"What? No. Way. Boys hate me. They're scared of me. The only reason I like moonlight is because its more ethereal than sunlight. I'm not pretty. There. Oh, and I'm not an actual demigod, so I couldn't be a child of Aphrodite even if I didn't have those qualities." she looked at me again.

"How many schools have you been to?"

"Ten, going on eleven if you guys ever let me go."

"Can you ever pay attention in class?"

"No. I was diagnosed with ADHD."

"Is reading English hard for you?"

"No, actually. Reading is one of my favorite things to do." she scowled at that, and for a moment I saw jealousy in her eyes. Then she shook it off and led me towards a two-story farm-house. That was painted blue.

On the porch were probably the two most strange men I had ever seen. Well, one of them wasn't a man...entirely. "Chiron! We have another one!" Dear god, it was Chiron. The mystical centaur from all the Greek myths. The one that trained everybody. Thats when I finally fainted.

I woke up in a nice room overlooking strawberry fields. It would have been nice if I knew where the heck I was. Then it all came back in a flash. Demigods. Flying horses. Killing a seal. I kinda wanted to faint again. Instead, I rubbed my eyes and swung my legs over the bed. I walked on semi-steady legs to the window, where I saw satyrs playing melodies to the strawberries. Ugh. So it hadn't been a dream. It was around late afternoon, so I had probably been out for a while, but I still wanted to check out the camp. I slowly and quietly walked down the stairs. I ran out of the door just as I heard a big cat roar. In the den. "What in the name of hell is this place?" I muttered, wanting to scream. I slowly walked down the porch steps, heading towards the dragon. I was going to get out of here.

Just as I got to the hill, a voice stopped me. "You really shouldn't be doing that without permission from Chiron." I slowly turned around and came face to face with somebody who looked like he had an ice-cube in his hand and was about to slip it down my shirt.

"I don't really care about permission from a mythical creature in a fever dream, if you don't mind me saying." his smile became even more crooked as he slipped some things out of his tool belt and started tinkering. I looked at his hands, because his depthless brown eyes were disconcerting. "What's your name, anyway?" I asked, shaking myself out of the daze.

"Leo Valdez, son of Hephateus."

'Why does everybody do that?"

"Do what?"

"Say they're the offspring of a greek god? I mean, is this like an advanced theatre club or something?" he chuckled, and I had to hold back a smile myself, even though I didn't find anything funny.

"Nah. We're all just majorly powerful. No big." I really laughed that time, but I choked on it when I saw how he was looking at me. Like I had something on my head.

"Moon?..." he trailed off, and I looked up. Above me, shining with a black-silver light, was a crescent moon.

"Ahhh!" I screamed, bobbing and weaving, trying to get around from under it.

"Hey! Thats exactly what I did!"

"You had a moon on top of your head too?"

"Nah, flaming hammer." I thought for a second.

"You weren't kidding about the whole 'Hephateus' thing, were you?" he grinned his crooked smile and shook his head.

"Nope. So, who's daughter are you?"

"Umm...Nyx I think. Goddess of night and all creatures that roam in it."

"Huh. Well, just in case you haven't noticed, you're glowing."

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah, you're like, radiating darkness. It's kinda cool."


	2. Chapter 2

I looked around myself quickly, not wanting to look away from his eyes, when I saw that I had. "Wicked." I grinned.

"Yeah, although to be honest there's usually a bit more of a crowd when these things happen."

"Huh?"

"Well, Chiron is usually here, at least. Mine was in front of the whole camp."

"That must have been entertaining." he chuckled.

"Yeah. Then I saved the world. Interesting week." I raised an eyebrow at him. He shrugged. "You get used to that stuff here." and then I remembered why I came up here in the first place.

"Uh-huh. I'm sure people who stay here do. But, um, I gotta go. So, I'm just gonna say goodbye to the dragon and make my way to Yancy Academy." I shuffled towards the copper beast and knelt down at it's head, really wishing that this Leo kid would leave so I could say goodbye to the beast and find my way back to the sane part of society. Instead, he stayed.

"Are you sure you wanna do that? It gets pretty dangerous out there in the real world. This is the only safe place you'll find around here."

"I think I'll take that risk." he shrugged.

"Okay. You should probably know that I was sent up here to stop you from leaving. Also, Chiron is coming up right now." I groaned.

"So what you're saying is that I should make a run for it?"

"Too late for that. He's-"

"Melanie Varve! What on earth do you think you're doing?

* * *

I gulped. Getting up slowly, I turned to face the centaur standing above me. I smiled sheepishly. "Erm, I believe I was...just about to leave?" I saw Leo flinch behind Chiron and immediately knew I had said something wrong.

"Leo," Chiron started, looking towards the boy, "if you could please show Miss Varve around the camp, I have to attend to some things. Make sure she enjoys it here, will you?" Leo visibly relaxed and held his hand out towards me. I edged towards him nervously, constantly flicking my eyes up towards Chiron, who had started to walk away. He cantered down towards the blue farmhouse, and I finally relaxed. Then I took Leo's hand and green fire erupted around us.

* * *

"Shit! Shit, not now!" Leo yelled, letting go of my hand. The fire immediately vanished and I looked down at my seemingly unscathed form, then back at him.

"What the hell just happened?" I screeched, and he scrambled away from me.

"I-I'm sorry, it just happens sometimes and-why aren't you hurt?" I scoffed.

"Fire accepts the night, it doesn't burn it. That's not the important part. Why the hell was it green?" that stopped him. "Is it always green?"

"Well, no. That's not normal. I've gotten it white-hot before, but I'm pretty sure that was Greek Fire. Are you sure we aren't going to talk about how you aren't dead?"

"Absolutely sure. Greek Fire, you say? That old stuff that didn't go out in water?" he shrugged.

"Kind of. Hard to explain. The point is, I shouldn't be able to make it." He opened his palm, and a burst of normal, orange fire burst to life. "See? That's normal." I twitched slightly, but it was a lot easier to swallow than it would have been at the beginning of the day.

"Yeah. Okay. Sure. You can create fire, and when we touch, we create green fire." I grabbed his hand again, just as an experiment. Instead of all surrounding us bursting into flame, the tiny fire in his hand turned a bright, emerald green.

"Awesome." Leo whispered, and I nodded.

"Should we tell someone?"

"I know this one girl who'd know. Annabeth Chase." I nodded, remembering the fierce-looking blond girl who had picked me up. So, without touching, we walked back, stealing glances at each other the whole way down.


End file.
